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Specialty necktie business launched by Westport retail exec

The trend of wearing neckties, once as ubiquitous as fedoras and cufflinks, has fallen by the wayside as casual looks have become more prevalent in menswear.

However, the necktie can still turn heads, according to the experience of Jonas Shapiro, chief operating officer of Duets, a Westport-based tie company.

Recently, Shapiro wore one of Duets' ties with its signature design -- two ties in complementary colors and patterns worn on top of each other -- to a formal event in Darien and was "surrounded by a bunch of lawyers asking where they could get the tie."

"No one's ever done it before," Shapiro said of company's double-tie designs. "I think that's one of the things that's helped us get in the door. We're very excited, the business has taken off a little faster than we'd hoped for."

Duets launched as an online retailer in October, based on an idea created nearly 30 years ago by Irving Botwinick, a tie aficionado. Shapiro met Botwinick over a year ago and decided to work with him to bring the idea to market. Though the products are available exclusively online at the moment, Shapiro said the company is talking to a number of retailers who might be interested in carrying Duets styles in their stores.

Starting online, as Duets has done, is becoming a more appealing way to start a business, said David Cadden, professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at Quinnipiac University.

"Obviously, it's a lot less expensive to start with an online operation," Cadden said. "It requires some sophistication to make your site accessible and some people get very clever with social media. I think more businesses are going to start online."

At the moment, the company is run by Botwinick, Shapiro, and Botwinick's son, Andy. Shapiro is also a manager member at Westport's Jonas Shapiro Associates, a firm focusing on helping retailers sell their products through e-commerce. With a background in retail fashion, working in men's and women's apparel at Saks Fifth Avenue and Polo Ralph Lauren, Shapiro found that Duets catered to both his areas of expertise.

Duets' ties are made of silk, using both domestic and imported fabrics and manufactured in Queens, N.Y. by the same company that produces ties for Brooks Brothers, Shapiro said.

Though men's business attire may have become more relaxed, Shapiro noted that a younger demographic of men, between ages 16 and 30, are becoming interested in ties once again, perhaps inspired by the sartorially suave appearances of celebrities like singers Justin Timberlake and Jay Z -- who, incidentally, recorded a song called "Suit & Tie."

"I think everything is cyclical, especially in fashion," Shapiro said. "You're seeing celebrities dressed up like the 1940s and 1950s with the skinny tie. You're seeing lots of kids wearing a white shirt, jacket, tie, colored jeans and a fedora. From what I can see, we're probably going to want to get dressed up again."